"The History of Weapons," ZDF Studios: Intro, Ep. 1 Ep. 2
https://www.fluentland.com/weapons-vocabulary-word-list-different-types-of-weapons-with-images/
In this ten part review, I'll be discussing one of the most comprehensive documentary series on the history of weapons that I've ever had the pleasure to watch. (and many times, at that) It's a ten part series, each part about an hour a piece, produced by ZDF Studios. Some of my absolute favorite military historians (Mike Loades, Andrew Lambert & Stephen Bull) take on three separate weapons per episode, and over the course of the series cover the evolution of weaponry; from the simple pointed stick, all the way up to the most advanced weapon systems of today. They discuss the abject terror created by the weapons and discuss what they could do to a person without glorifying it in the least; a welcome change from weapons/military documentaries of the past where oftentimes the presenter got an almost perverse pleasure detailing the gory details of what a particular weapon could do to person, leaving you to wonder if they were a sadist that just happened to go for a history major.
The historians (alongside many guest talking heads and experts) achieve this end very effectively by using real/reproduction implements wherever possible (or appropriate live-target safe stand-ins) in myriad real-world practical experiments. They showcase the technology while also discussing the pros and cons, why they were adopted by the fighting world at large, what weapons they replaced and ultimately how those weapons changed the face of warfare, the life of the combatants and the politics of the day. They highlight the technology that was developed and refined in order to make weapons that could win wars without sustaining heavily casualties, and discuss how their creators naively believed their weapons to be "So terrible that no human would ever use them on another, therefore ending all war." Of course we know that's not yet happened, but they do an excellent job following the technology and how it changed life for everyone; not just the warriors who armed or defended themselves against them.
The episode list is as follows; they're not in any particular order, per se. In other words, they don't use fresh fruit for nine episodes and then get to the pointed stick in the final episode. While it's never a bad time to learn defense against fresh fruit, let's leave that to the professionals, eh?
Episode 1: Ranged Weapons
Episode 2: Attack From Above
Episode 3: Close Combat
Episode 4: Weapons for All
Episode 5: Faster Than the Enemy
Episode 6: The Power of Destruction
Episode 7: War at Sea
Episode 8: The Ambush
Episode 9: Deadly Inventions
Episode 10: Civilians on the Battlefield
Episode 1: Ranged Weapons
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| Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=598859 |
In this episode the historians showcase ranged weapons, their evolution and the technology worked into every single piece of kit. They start with the Roman Pilum, or spear. Ok, so it's a stick with a pointy bit of metal on the end, right? Not exactly. Every Roman soldier was issued two, and most historians would agree that it's what made the Roman army such an effective fighting force. For instance: The metal point on the tip? It's squared off and not attached firmly to the shaft. Why this is important, is when the pilum was thrown it would punch a hole in shield or flesh, and when the victim inevitably tried to pull it out of their shield or themselves (if it didn't kill or impair them immediately) the metal tip would pull out of the shaft because the square point would often fetch up in the wound, armor or shield. Also, the tip was made of long, thin iron, so the metal shaft would often bend with the weight of the shaft hanging off it, making it that much harder, if not impossible, to remove. It rendered shields useless and flesh wounds nearly always fatal. The second volley of Pilum would then finish off the now unshielded or already stricken enemy. The long pointed stick was refined and adapted so often that it still lives on today: as the bayonet.
Then onto the legendary English longbow. Made of a single piece of English Yew with a tapered core of heart wood for strength and a sapwood leading edge for flexibility, it made a deadly warrior out of anyone who could pick one up. So effective was the Longbow, that it was required by law in England for every able bodied man to train with them every Sunday. That meant a group of peasants that were called up to fight by their lord could make short work of a professionally equipped and trained army, and at several hundred yards to boot. The combined range and strength of the longbow made it one of the most feared weapons on the medieval battlefield. Famously felling a great number of French warriors in the Battle of Agincourt, it quite literally changed the shape of European countries; the effects of which still resonate in the politics of today.
Lastly, they look the Minie' ball. Not "Minnie" like the mouse; "Min-nay," as in the last name of the inventor of this revolutionary round. For the entire life of firearms to this point, projectiles were round and made of stone, lead or anything else one could stuff into the barrel. This projectile was a huge departure from that convention, making several innovative leaps in one fell swoop. Armorers already knew that rifling could increase the accuracy of a round projectile, but no one had yet made a conical round to take full advantage of the spin imparted by said rifling. Not only was this round conical, but it had a hollow skirt with three rings around the base. When the gunpowder was set alight and the explosive gasses rapidly expanded, so did the skirt, which would subsequently catch the rifling. Another innovation was that the front of the round was slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the barrel, meaning the skirt and rings were the majority portion of the round to make contact with the barrel's rifling. This reduced friction increasing range, muzzle velocity, as well as producing less fouling as well as making it easier to load, as no cloth patching was needed unlike a traditional musket ball. (This was done to create a seal so the expanding gasses propelled the round instead of bypassing it) The results of increased range, accuracy and faster loading were immediate and terrific, as is evident by the shockingly high number of casualties in the American Civil War. One of the first wars that utilized the new projectile design in large numbers. The expanding skirt projectile went the way of the dinosaur with the advent of metallic, smokeless breech-loaded cartridges, but the conical bullet is STILL the primary projectile of rifled small arms and artillery everywhere. (obviously aside from shotguns and specialty weapons/rounds)
Episode 2: Attack From Above
By No machine-readable author provided. Gaius Cornelius assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=855188
In this episode, the historians cover aerial weapons, focusing on incendiary arrows, self propelled rockets and gravity driven spikes and timed explosives, dropped from an airplane.
In the age of swords, arrows and thatched roofs, nothing was more terrifying and destructive than fire. Early weapon makers knew this, and tried many ways to introduce fire from a distance, so the dirty work of clearing a town or village could be done with relative ease or without sacrificing a single warrior. As early as there were mechanical means of throwing a projectile, various methods were produced to carry fire aloft; eventually being refined to the fire basket incendiary arrow. The design is as elegant as it was effective. A small, four-tined "basket" was incorporated into shaft of a metal arrowhead. When stuffed with straw or cloth and dipped in pitch and set alight, it could carry flame to a target as far as an archer could launch an arrow. While they weren't typically used as anti-personnel weapons, they did an incredible amount of destruction and spread untold amounts of terror. Often towns would relent and surrender as opposed to face total destruction at the end of flaming arrow.
Then onto self-propelled rockets, in which they draw their focus on the "Hwacha," or "Fire Cart." Consisting of a wheeled carriage and a multi-chambered block atop, it held anywhere from 100-200 self-propelled arrows, which were carried aloft by a propellent charge of gunpowder. Many forms of projectiles were used; incendiary, explosive, simple pointed sticks, etc; all were effective both as a terror and anti-personnel weapon. Here they make a mock-up of one and set it off against an invading army of balloons. While their aim wasn't exactly on the mark, its effectiveness was nevertheless on full display. It's the great grand-daddy of all self propelled missiles, and it's design is still used today in the likes of the M270 Multiple Rocket Launch System.
Lastly, they cover "Dropped Weapons," or what we'd more commonly call "aerial bombs" today. Early in the 20th century, militaries around the world had taken a relatively new novelty and turned it into an instrument of war: the airplane. At first, airplanes were largely used to survey the battlefield, taking pictures of trench systems and enemy positions so they knew where to focus their attacks. The planes were slow and needed to fly low in order to get accurate pictures, which made them popular targets of sport amongst the often bored men in the trenches. Initially, the pilots carried simple pointed steel rods (known as flechettes) and would drop them en masse onto the enemy positions as a way of keeping their heads down while they did their reconnaissance missions. The weight of them dropped from a height would pierce an enemy's helmet, making them highly feared, although not reliably accurate. Also, the sheer weight of them in the early years of lightly powered/lift aircraft, meant that they could only carry a small supply at one time, usually enough for one run over an occupied trench. Then someone got the wise idea to start throwing timed explosives/hand grenades; this marked the entry of explosive aerial bombs delivered by airplane into modern warfare. By the end of the First World War, purpose-built high capacity bombers were being made, and with them, carpet bombing quickly became the preferred method of delivering payloads to a target during the next few wars. Nowadays, aerial smart bombs delivered by advanced weapons systems are typically the first weapons to be deployed on the modern battlefield. They're so unnervingly accurate that they can render vital infrastructure and supply depots/lines inoperable before you send in the armor and infantry; and that's even if necessary. Here, Stephen Bull takes to the sky in an open door airplane in an attempt to drop a flechette onto a few fairly large targets. While he isn't exactly an expert bombardier, seeing a non-explosive round of only a few pounds embed itself a meter into the soil really drives the point home... Pun intended.
WOW - very detailed!
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